Elder Scrolls Topic

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I love this game series, even though I have only played IV and V (I played a little bit of III, but EUIV distracted me from it); so I decided that there should be a topic for people to talk about all things Tamriel. Here are topics to start things off:

 

 

--What games have you played? As stated above, I have played Oblivion and Skyrim extensively, but barely played Morrowind.

 

--Here is something I want to say about Skyrim: I love the game, but feels more shallow then Oblivion (Keep in mind that I have not finished either of these, though one of the loading screen texts for Skyrim kind of spoiled a bit of the ending of Oblivion for me).

 

--Should there be a movie series about this game series?

 

--Also, where do you think the next Elder Scrolls game should take place in? I think either Elswyr or Hammerfell, or maybe a game detailing the Trials of St. Alessia and his struggles with the Ayeliads and the eventual founding of the First Cyrodillic Empire.

 

--And lastly, has anyone here played the first two games? If so, was it good? Would you recommend it to people?

[Angel Beat]

I got into the series with Skyrim, which I finished, and I own Oblivion, though I have yet to play it past the tutorial.

 

Right now I'm really into Elder Scrolls Online though.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I got in with Oblivion. It is awesome, but you might have to suffer through the potato faces to get a good experience. The story and the guards make it worthwhile though:

 

Say, what is the back-story behind Elder Scrolls Online (ESO)? I know it takes place around 800 years before Elder Scrolls I-IV and 1000 years before Skyrim, but what's the plot?

Edited January 18, 2015 by Iaredios

[Angel Beat]

Basically, Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of domination and enslavement of mortals, is being a pain in the butt and you have to stop him.

 

In the meantime, there's a war going on between the three playable factions.

 

Said war takes place in Cyrodiil, which is where the Player vs Player action happens.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

Molag Bal? His name sounds familiar (outside of just being a Daedric Prince). Enslavement and Domination? I thought that was Mehrunes Dagon.

I hear that TESO covers the entirety of Tamriel, how does it look?

 

 

 

 

EDIT: "Mehrunes Dagon is the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Change, Revolution, Energy, and Ambition", the two sound a little similar but i guess that they are different enough.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Iaredios

[Nescent]

I've played Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and some ESO. I also tried out the first two games a little bit, Arena was too difficult for me to get into, and Daggerfall looked like a lot of fun but I gave up easily.

 

I played the ESO beta a lot and absolutely loved it (especially Cyrodiil!), but once the game came out I unfortunately lost interest.

 

Morrowind is an extremely good game, and you should play it, but I don't think I'll play it again.

 

Finally, Oblivion and Skyrim are two of my favorite games. I think I like Oblivion more, but I have spent more time playing Skyrim. They're both great, and Skyrim has one of my favorite environments in any game I've every played.

[Trijhak]

I've played Skyrim a lot, and Morrowind + Oblivion a bit. I can't really see the appeal of Oblivion, so it's my least favourite TES game by far, and also don't really understand any of the praise for Shivering Isles.

 

That said, everyone who's played Skyrim knows that it could definitely be better. Most quests generally lead into a dungeon of some sort, there's really not enough use of the actual world itself, which is a shame. 

 

Also, the lore can get really weird.

[Makaru]

I've only done ~4 complete playthroughs of Skyrim and I'm just about to finish the last faction on Elder Scrolls Online. I'll be jumping back to it now that Destiny has quieted down.

[Nescent]

I've played Skyrim a lot, and Morrowind + Oblivion a bit. I can't really see the appeal of Oblivion, so it's my least favourite TES game by far, and also don't really understand any of the praise for Shivering Isles.

 

That said, everyone who's played Skyrim knows that it could definitely be better. Most quests generally lead into a dungeon of some sort, there's really not enough use of the actual world itself, which is a shame. 

 

Also, the lore can get really weird.

 

Oblivion is my favorite because of nostalgia; it was the first TES game I played. But I think your post contradicts itself, since you say you don't see the appeal to Oblivion, yet its quests are infinitely more interesting than Skyrim's.

 

And the Shivering Isles...it's a mysterious small island that magically appears in the middle of a lake, with a big face portal that leads to the Realm of Madness filled with deranged people, deranged plants, a deranged government, and a long, horrifying serial killer questline. What's not to love?

 

I really hope that TES VI gives more love to the quests, with some actual compelling stories and choices. In pretty much every other regard, I think that Skyrim was in improvement over Oblivion.

[Makaru]

And the Shivering Isles...it's a mysterious small island that magically appears in the middle of a lake, with a big face portal that leads to the Realm of Madness filled with deranged people, deranged plants, a deranged government, and a long, horrifying serial killer questline. What's not to love?

And cheese! You forgot about the cheese, me lad!

Edited January 22, 2015 by Makaru

[Nescent]

 

I'm glad the cheese thing carried over to Skyrim.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I remember when you go to, i think Skingrad in TES IV, that a lot of people, especially guards, would say the following if you approached them or just walked by them closely: "Boy does [insert name here] loves his wine and cheese. But he likes cheese! I mean, I really, really likes cheese!"  It became a meme of some-sorts after while, i would burst out laughing when someone randomly said this.

 

My brother played Oblivion. He completely skipped over the main quest and the Divine Crusader quest, and headed straight for the Shivering isles. I was a bit peeved about this, because that's where the game ends, the hero of Kvatch becoming the new Sheogorath and later briefly meeting the Dovahkin of the 4th Era. But hey, what can you do? 

[Nescent]

So, ESO goes free-to-play buy-to-play on March 17th. It's too bad they had to ditch the subscription, but I'm very much looking forward to playing it and getting my money's worth. I'm also looking forward to seeing how the game's changed since beta, I know there have been a couple of large content releases but I wonder how different the early game is.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Nescent

[Makaru]

It'll be nice to eventually see another player character in veteran maps outside of Craglorn again.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Makaru

[Angel Beat]

I think you still have to buy the game itself though, like Guild Wars 2.

 

Unless that has changed in the meantime.

[Munty]

I got into this series with Morrowind and all things considered it is BY FAR the best instalment to date. If you can see past the dated graphics and lack of voice acting it's simply a wonderful game that anyone who enjoys the franchise MUST play! The story is really great the whole way through and all of the guild quests are excellent too, including the three 'House' quests (which I managed to TESEdit to allow completion of all three ) 

 

I found Oblivion to be VERY disappointing when I rushed to buy it on release day, though I can't remember all of the reasons for this now. In particular though I found the lack of minimap and it's subsequent replacement by a compass to be a real step backwards. Perhaps it was an attempt to aid in immersion but for me it just resulted in me missing a lot of interesting content. I used to 'lawnmower' Vvardenfell in TES3 so I uncovered every last bit of the island, cleared every cave, completed every quest. I imagine there is a ton of content in Oblivion I never got around to seeing because it's so hard to tell where you haven't been. The addition of horse in Oblivion was great but the introduction of the lockpicking 'minigame' was utter horseplop... I HATED it and I still hate it now. Bring back the good ol' days of lockpick spamming so I can get back to the game and keep on playing. The whole point of 'skills' is that my character gets better at lockpicking the more he does it. MY skill shouldn't be part of the equation, it certainly isn't taken into account when he's chopping up skellies with a two handed battleae and suchnot... There was plenty of other stuff that I felt made Oblivion an inferior game but a few YEARS after giving up on it due to disappointment I did come back to complete it and it was enjoyable enough in the end. I try not to get so hyped for new releases nowadays as it ALWAYS ends in disappointment... I ended up marrying the queen (yes you can if you know how!) so that was nice...

 

Skyrim was an amazing game and improved on Oblivion in pretty much every possible way. I still never felt as invested in my character as I did in Morrowind though, nor have I ever in another game to be honest. Not sure why, but yes Skyrim is great!

 

Arena and Daggerfall are tough and take a LOT of getting into, not to mention being pretty disjointed and 'sandbox' most of the time. The narrative is there but I'd be surprised if today's younger generation of gamers found it worth their time, we just expect SOOO much more from games these days and the early games don't really offer it. Redguard was a solid game, started to feel more like the game we got in Morrowind, I never got far due to technical issues though if I remember. I may bust out the big box later (yes, games used to come in boxes, like cereal! )  and see if it'll boot up on my current pc. I'm pretty sure it has a DVD and not a floppy disk!

 

TESO was always a VERY dodgy concept. The whole point of TES games is to make the player a 'hero' and essentially allow them to save the world (or region at least!) while becoming the head of every major organisation in the area and singlehandedly ammassing every septim the world has ever seen by selling peoples wooden spoons and fruitbowls. None of that stuff works in TESO as you just become a simple footsoldier carrying out meaningless tasks (that thousands of other people have literally just done five minutes earlier) in a world that you have NO effect on EVER. MMOs don't allow you to develop your character, or to influence the story. You can build a house or have a stash (unless it's the exact same one that everyone else has too) and there's certainly no way you'll ever be the grandmaster of cheese-eaters unless you're prepared to accept that that guy over there is as well, oh and ALL the other guys behind him... I played the Beta extensively and I got bored WAAAAY before I ran out of content. The ONLY thing that TESO could've got right was building ALL of Tamriel for the first time. But it didn't. Or rather, not in the style of an Elder Scrolls game. Instead it did it like LOTRO built middle-earth. It was big but nowhere near big enough to truly represent an entire continent and the detail just isn't there. Plus we have to share it with all these other idiots squat-jumping all over the place and the graphics aren't even up to Oblivion standards due to server limitations. Then of course there's the lack of mods (afaik) for TESO, something that Bethesda has always been completely behind. For me, there are always essential GUI and graphical mods that TES games need. I'm pretty sure those aren't available in MMOs as I can't imagine how they would be implicated...

 

(For the record I enjoyed LOTRO more because of the connection I have with the lore. This wasn't true of TESO though, despite my equal attachment to the lore of Tamriel. I think that's because LOTRO didn't have anything to live up to besides the lore though while TESO was already a well established gaming franchise and it just didn't fit the pre-established framework of the series...)

 

TL:DR 

Morrowind is the BEST Elder Scrolls Game as it changed everything. (+ many other reasons!) You should play it now if you haven't already....

Skyrim is an amazing game, on equal footings with Morrowind and another must play

Oblivion was ok but very disappointing after Morrowind as it didn't seem like a huge step forward. Horse are cool...

Redguard is a decent and playable game but will still likely seem unfamiliar to fans of other Elder Scrolls games. Also has compatability issues.

Arena and Daggerfall are hardcore games for older players. Newcomers to the franchise or younger (<20yo) most likely won't enjoy these...

[Nescent]

I think you still have to buy the game itself though, like Guild Wars 2.

 

Unless that has changed in the meantime.

 

Yeah, you do, but luckily I preordered it. I just stopped playing after five minutes. It's a fine game, but I was in the last three betas and didn't feel like starting over again.

 

In particular though I found the lack of minimap and it's subsequent replacement by a compass to be a real step backwards.

 

Agreed wholeheartedly with that, now when I play any TES game I mod away the compass. Aimlessly exploring and getting lost are a huge deal for me, it definitely made Skyrim a lot more fun.

[Hodor]

I love this game series, even though I have only played IV and V (I played a little bit of III, but EUIV distracted me from it); so I decided that there should be a topic for people to talk about all things Tamriel. Here are topics to start things off:

 

 

--What games have you played? As stated above, I have played Oblivion and Skyrim extensively, but barely played Morrowind.

 

--Here is something I want to say about Skyrim: I love the game, but feels more shallow then Oblivion (Keep in mind that I have not finished either of these, though one of the loading screen texts for Skyrim kind of spoiled a bit of the ending of Oblivion for me).

 

--Should there be a movie series about this game series?

 

--Also, where do you think the next Elder Scrolls game should take place in? I think either Elswyr or Hammerfell, or maybe a game detailing the Trials of St. Alessia and his struggles with the Ayeliads and the eventual founding of the First Cyrodillic Empire.

 

--And lastly, has anyone here played the first two games? If so, was it good? Would you recommend it to people?

Played most of them, outside of Oblivion. They're pretty neat, but honestly really flawed.

 

Honestly don't like Skyrim much at all. It's very pretty game with a decent soundtrack, but the game as a whole feels very hollow and unfinished. The open world kind of falls apart when the majority of the game is spent walking to different spots, and occasionally getting into skirmishes with enemies. And TES has, historically, had terrible combat- and it doesn't help that Skyrim is so horribly dumbed down.

 

No movies or TV series. Books, yes, but I feel a lot of the appeal of the lore is how out there it can get- it'd lose something when adapted to screen.

 

Arena is terrible, even for the standards of a game its age. The game is more or less a poor man's Ultima Underworld, in terms of combat, and overall has aged like milk. Daggerfall is pretty neat, though, if you can get into it.

[(Daedalus)]

Ah, the Elder Scrolls.

 

I was introduced to this series when I was doing some research on "the best RPG." The only RPG I'd ever played was Knights of the Old Republic, but I didn't understand how anything worked and I really just kind of stumbled through the game. I had heard about how awesome RPGs could be, so I decided I wanted to get one, hence the search for the best RPG. Morrowind came up more than once, so I focused on that and started doing some research. It sounded really cool and I noticed that Target had the Game of the Year edition at Target for twenty bucks. I bought it, really excited. I did not, however, anticipate the learning curve.

 

Now, I know Morrowind isn't that complicated, but remember, this was my first real exposure to an RPG (that is to say, the first time I played a game that I actually knew was an RPG). I was trying to wrap my head around stats, races, signs, abilities, all this weird stuff that I didn't have to worry about in pretty much every other game I had played. Even worse, the game pretty much plops into a massive world with a few vague directions and a hearty "Good luck!" as your only starting point. I was absolutely lost and confused, but this was a new game (to me, anyway) that I had greatly anticipated and I was determined to like it. And I did. For the first few hours of play.

 

After that, the initial awe had worn off, and I was beginning to realize I had no idea what I was doing. I also kept noticing little things that bugged the tarnation out of me, like the slow movement speed and the combat (why on earth are my attacks not hitting when they should?). I dropped the game with a "I'll come back to it some other time" and moved on to other things. I did eventually start it up again, but the same thing happened.

 

Some time after that, I got the urge for an RPG (I was, at this point, far more familiar with the genre). This time, during my research, Oblivion kept popping up. I started looking into it, and it sounded great. However, I was a little worried about it being an Elder Scrolls game. I was most worried about the combat; if I was going to appear to be in direct control of my character, I didn't want any weird dice roll business going on. When I discovered that had been left out, I bought the game. I was pleasantly surprised. I greatly enjoyed it and put in a couple hundred hours in one (unfinished) playthrough. I got immersed in the world and started questing all over the place. I even wrote a fanfic set in Cyrodiil.

 

However, I eventually moved on to other games, and I did not return to Oblivion for some time. I did try getting back into Morrowind, and one of these forays was actually rather successful. I downloaded a mod that overhauled the graphics and some of the animations, as well as a mod that put all the leveling in the background. Basically, aside from initially choosing my skills, I didn't have to worry about any of that. I could just play and have fun.

 

It was during this playthrough that I realized how much I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere. The combination of unique visuals, music, and ambient noise is still my favorite in all of the Elder Scrolls games I've played. However, I also realized that I would never thoroughly enjoy the game, at least not without spending a ton of time finding the right mods. There are too many little things that annoy me, and over time, they just get worse. The slow movement speed is one of the biggest, but the combat also bugs me. The role Endurance plays in combat has never ceased to puzzle me. I also discovered that, after coming to appreciate Morrowind a little more, I couldn't get back into Oblivion. It just didn't feel right. I would never say it is worse than Morrowind--I got way too much enjoyment out of it to say that--I am no longer so quick to say that it is better.

 

Now we come to Skyrim. I had established my interest in the series, so buying TES V was merely a matter of waiting until the inevitable GOTY edition (which, in this game's case, was actually the Legendary Edition). I immediately fell in love with the game... mostly. I enjoyed the setting and the atmosphere more than Oblivion, and I found the combat to be leaps and bounds better than Morrowind (initially, anyway, but I'll get to that in a bit). I also liked the lockpicking. However, the further I got into the game, the harder it became. Higher end enemies became damage sponges, and despite my decent skills, I got to where I could rarely engage enemies without coming very close to death. If I hadn't had a decent Restoration skill, I would have quite the game. As it was, I played both DLC (and enjoyed them both, especially the setting of Dragonborn, though the story didn't do much for me) and did a ton of other stuff. I had a lot of fun.

 

But I knew I could get more enjoyment out of it, so with the help of some people on a gaming forum, I discovered some really good mods that added a ton of ambient noise, added realistic needs (food, water, sleep, etc.), required cold protection, and, most importantly, totally revamped the stats for weapons and armor and enemy behavior. Weapons did a lot more damage while armor was more protective. Enemies behaved a little more realistically and worked better together. The perks tree was entirely redone, with most of the old perks changed and a ton of new perks added. These few mods drastically changed the game. It was far more immersive, and enemies were no longer damage sponges. It was incredible, and really, it cinched this game as my favorite in the series (bonus points for bringing back that Morrowind atmosphere with the addition of Solstheim).

 

TL;DR: Love Morrowind's atmosphere/setting but dislike its combat, like Oblivion but find it hard to get into now, absolutely love Skyrim with some mods to make it just that much better.

[Nescent]

I am so flippin' excited to play ESO. The Justice system looks like it will add a lot to the game, even if it is pretty simple. Just 14 more days now...I'm going to play through Oblivion again while I wait.

 

I hope Cyrodiil is at least close to how active it was in Beta; charging through the hills in swarms was rather amazing. I remember leading a full party of members and overthrowing a keep in a night-long battle...probably the most excited I've ever been in a game. I think I'm going to play a Bosmer in the Aldmeri Dominion, maybe a second non-pvp character in the Daggerfall Covenant.

 

After that, the initial awe had worn off, and I was beginning to realize I had no idea what I was doing. I also kept noticing little things that bugged the tarnation out of me, like the slow movement speed and the combat (why on earth are my attacks not hitting when they should?). I dropped the game with a "I'll come back to it some other time" and moved on to other things. I did eventually start it up again, but the same thing happened.

 

Morrowind is a great game, if you ever want to give it another shot you can change the movement speed with a simple command: player.setspeed 100 (100=whatever value you want). There's probably also a way to make the early-game combat less RNG-based. Kudos for giving it a few honest tries though, most people seem to give up after dying to a rat.

[Trijhak]

Early-game combat in Morrowind feels less RNG-based if you start out with a decently high combat skill at the beginning while creating a character, like Long Blade at 35-40. While not all attacks will hit, you'll be hitting far more often than you would with a combat skill at 5. If that's still not enough, try and gather some coin somehow and find someone who can train your chosen combat skill a few times. 

 

Weird thing about Morrowind is that its world is smaller than both Oblivion's and Skyrim's, but due to the lack of fast travel it feels a bit bigger. Also, that excruciatingly slow starting speed doesn't help. 

 

 

I've played Skyrim a lot, and Morrowind + Oblivion a bit. I can't really see the appeal of Oblivion, so it's my least favourite TES game by far, and also don't really understand any of the praise for Shivering Isles.

 

That said, everyone who's played Skyrim knows that it could definitely be better. Most quests generally lead into a dungeon of some sort, there's really not enough use of the actual world itself, which is a shame. 

 

Also, the lore can get really weird.

 

Oblivion is my favorite because of nostalgia; it was the first TES game I played. But I think your post contradicts itself, since you say you don't see the appeal to Oblivion, yet its quests are infinitely more interesting than Skyrim's.

 

And the Shivering Isles...it's a mysterious small island that magically appears in the middle of a lake, with a big face portal that leads to the Realm of Madness filled with deranged people, deranged plants, a deranged government, and a long, horrifying serial killer questline. What's not to love?

 

I really hope that TES VI gives more love to the quests, with some actual compelling stories and choices. In pretty much every other regard, I think that Skyrim was in improvement over Oblivion.

 

 

That's your opinion, dude. I didn't contradict myself. I don't really like much of Oblivion's quests either. Also, my issue with SI was that 'we're so randumb LOL CHEESE' humour it has, which really turned me away from it. (then again, at the time the internet considered that to be the pinnacle of humour.) I also happened to find the landscape of Cyrodil and the SI to be very generic and boring. In Cyrodil, trees trees trees trees different coloured trees some snow. In Shivering Isles? Greenish swamp, yellowish trees. Compared to Skyrim (which I'll admit is 33% snow and mountains), or Morrowind especially, I find that it has a very boring environment.

 

That said, I hope TES VI is able to have interesting quests, interesting environments, and interesting combat. Also, bigger cities. Skyrim's the only modern TES game that lacks a truly big city. (as in Vivec or the Imperial City)

[Nescent]

I've played Skyrim a lot, and Morrowind + Oblivion a bit. I can't really see the appeal of Oblivion, so it's my least favourite TES game by far, and also don't really understand any of the praise for Shivering Isles.

 

That said, everyone who's played Skyrim knows that it could definitely be better. Most quests generally lead into a dungeon of some sort, there's really not enough use of the actual world itself, which is a shame. 

 

Also, the lore can get really weird.

Oblivion is my favorite because of nostalgia; it was the first TES game I played. But I think your post contradicts itself, since you say you don't see the appeal to Oblivion, yet its quests are infinitely more interesting than Skyrim's.

 

And the Shivering Isles...it's a mysterious small island that magically appears in the middle of a lake, with a big face portal that leads to the Realm of Madness filled with deranged people, deranged plants, a deranged government, and a long, horrifying serial killer questline. What's not to love?

 

I really hope that TES VI gives more love to the quests, with some actual compelling stories and choices. In pretty much every other regard, I think that Skyrim was in improvement over Oblivion.

That's your opinion, dude. I didn't contradict myself. I don't really like much of Oblivion's quests either. Also, my issue with SI was that 'we're so randumb LOL CHEESE' humour it has, which really turned me away from it. (then again, at the time the internet considered that to be the pinnacle of humour.) I also happened to find the landscape of Cyrodil and the SI to be very generic and boring. In Cyrodil, trees trees trees trees different coloured trees some snow. In Shivering Isles? Greenish swamp, yellowish trees. Compared to Skyrim (which I'll admit is 33% snow and mountains), or Morrowind especially, I find that it has a very boring environment.

 

That said, I hope TES VI is able to have interesting quests, interesting environments, and interesting combat. Also, bigger cities. Skyrim's the only modern TES game that lacks a truly big city. (as in Vivec or the Imperial City)

 

Fair enough. That's the number one complaint I hear about Oblivion, that the landscape is dreary and the whole game is kind of a cliche European fantasy world in appearance. Personally I like the environment (especially certain areas like the Ayleid ruins, Jerral mountains, and all of the cities), but I can see how the stretches of forest hills could seem boring. I guess if I had to choose, I prefer Skyrim's environment, if only for the whole snowy northern region. I'm a sucker for snow.

 

It's been a while since I played Skyrim, but wasn't all of that humor contained to Sheogorath? He was barely in the game, and the rest of Skyrim is dark and serious. That cheese stuff was really blown out of proportion online though.

 

Also let me rephrase that bolded part, what I should have said is that Oblivion's quest are much more story-based. Skyrim has lots of fetch quests, or redundant "clear this dungeon" quests. Oblivion's had more story-telling and were more varied - for example, in one you get trapped in an oil painting, in another you spend like a week learning about an elf's paranoia and can choose whether or not to murder him...I don't remember being engaged in many of Skyrim's quests. Personally I prefer Oblivion's stories and find them more interesting, so I too hope that we see that sort of writing in TES VI.

[Trijhak]

Oblivion's environment is made even worse for me by the fact that I live near what's close to the cliche European countryside, so I more or less see what looks like it nearly every day. Also, I think you meant Shivering Isles the first time you mentioned Skyrim.

 

Let's talk about the future for a bit. I hope we get an environment as alien in TES VI, because it would be so interesting to look at. I think Elsweyr (now divided into Anequina and Pelletine) would be a fairly interesting place to explore, with an abundance of non-humans like Morrowind. It'd be nice to see the various types of Khajiit too, as well as allowing a stark contrast to Skyrim and Cyrodil with its badlands in the north and sub-tropical environment in the south. I'll be disappointed if Bethesda chooses to set TES VI in Hammerfell or High Rock, which are kinda already covered by Daggerfall, and have human races... although High Rock has that court intrigue, which could make for some very interesting quests.

 

This talk makes me wonder if VI will have a 'unique mechanic' like shouts in Skyrim, although I'd doubt it since that would seem a bit like repetition. 

[Nescent]

I did mean Skyrim.

 

I hope the next TES game takes place in Valenwood, but I'd be happy with any new location. I'm more interested to see how the gameplay changes. The dragons and shouts in Skyrim didn't interest be much (to be honest I could never remember to use shouts, and the dragons became irritating later in the game), but TES VI will probably have something similar to slap on the cover. Dragons are pretty easy to sell.

 

I really hope alchemy stays in the game. Even if it's the exact same as Skyrim's, since I'm not sure how they could further refine the process. Also maybe a new lock pick minigame?

 

Something I've hoped for is more RNG-based loot. Give armor and weapons a random amount of affixes with random rolls, rather than just "armor" and "damage" and magic effects. That's not going to happen though, it's clear that they want gearing to be straightforward.

[Makaru]

But the great thing about Skyrim is you could ignore the main quest at very little consequence. You can get married and own a little shop and adopt children, nicking sweetrolls, diligently ignoring your heritage and duty to all the peoples of Tamriel and if that isn't what RPGs are about, I'll eat my tunic.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Makaru

[Nescent]

>300 hours in Skyrim and I still haven't beaten the main quest. It's kind of my shameful TES secret.

 

One of my friends is an Oblivion nut (>1000 hours in the game), and he did a playthrough as a normal citizen living in a cabin outside of Imperial City.  I like that Skyrim has irrelevant stuff to do like chop wood.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

Oblivion's environment is made even worse for me by the fact that I live near what's close to the cliche European countryside, so I more or less see what looks like it nearly every day. Also, I think you meant Shivering Isles the first time you mentioned Skyrim.

I live in Arizona, and the only green pastures here are the golf courses, everything else is a naturally hot, brown, shrub-ridden desert wasteland with canals cutting through and farmlands dotting it. As I have little experience with big grassy fields (lest it be small suburban parks, golf courses and big plains of near-dead-grass atop mesas), I found the environment to be quite cool.   If you live there then I guess seeing the same thing you see everyday can be kind of a downer. Then again, I felt kind of at home with Fallout New Vegas, so maybe that isn't always the case.

 

Compare these:

http://cactuslovers.com/cactus-scenes/arizona-desert-scenery2.jpg

http://www.louoates.com/images/landscapes/SuperstitionMtnStormyLightBeam-1200.jpg

 

To these:

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs49/f/2009/199/8/6/Oblivion__Screenshot_1_by_Shadowhallow.png

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/770/770614/the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-20070306105520642_640w.jpg

 

See how different they are? All the green, the changing leaf colors, and all the water at the coast (there is a small lake near my house but it aint no ocean :lol  ).  It's about as foreign to me as Skyrim, so it did it's job. I'm sorry it didn't do that for you.

 

 

>300 hours in Skyrim and I still haven't beaten the main quest. It's kind of my shameful TES secret.

 

One of my friends is an Oblivion nut (>1000 hours in the game), and he did a playthrough as a normal citizen living in a cabin outside of Imperial City.  I like that Skyrim has irrelevant stuff to do like chop wood.

Not sure how many hours I have into Skyrim or Oblivion, but I know its a good chunk of time (not quite 300 hours for Skyrim though). One of my favorite things in Skyrim is mining for ore and geting money the old fashioned way by chopping wood while I am eating. Easy money there.

 

 

 

 

If you play Skyrim on PC, does anyone here utilize mods? I do, and it's hard for me to go back to the console version. I have this one mod that creates groups of soldiers (imperials, stormcloaks, thalmor and vampires) to walk across the map by set times and routes. It is cool (and a bit sad at times) to see actual fighting in the war that keeps being talked about, and stumble across a large group of bloody corpses. Makes the game so much more immersive.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Iaredios

[Nescent]

If you play Skyrim on PC, does anyone here utilize mods? I do, and it's hard for me to go back to the console version. I have this one mod that creates groups of soldiers (imperials, stormcloaks, thalmor and vampires) to walk across the map by set times and routes. It is cool (and a bit sad at times) to see actual fighting in the war that keeps being talked about, and stumble across a large group of bloody corpses. Makes the game so much more immersive.

 

Yeah, way too many mods. I played Oblivion practically mod-free, but in Skyrim I had well over a hundred. Mostly just graphics-enhancing mods, like Climates of Tamriel and dozens of improved textures and models, but also some to make the game more intense, like a disease/hunger/thirst mod. Right now I don't have a PC that can run Skyrim, so I tried it on console and gave up when I got to character creation...totally looking forward to another playthrough when I get my computer.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I have those same mods for Oblivion, also one that makes the faces for people higher quality (doesn't fix ears though   ). I should get that hunger and thirst mod, and also the Winter Is Coming mod for Skyrim. I already have the big fur coats for the mod.

 

I have too many Skyrim mods as well.   I have one where you can fight Sauron (I am too scared to do it since I am too weak), and another one that makes an Elder Scrolls version of the Millennium Falcon and crew. I have yet to find the Oblivion Falcon. Oh, and I forgot to mention: playing as a Toa of Stone, chucking boulders and shooting sand, is awesome.

[Nescent]

Hehe, that all sounds like a lot of fun, though personally I tried to keep it as vanilla as possible just with better graphics and difficulty. I also tried that better faces mod for Oblivion, but I'd grown attached to the blurry smudge-faced Khajiits.  

 

The Bionicle mod for Skyrim looks awesome; the Toa are incredibly well-designed. I think I'll give that one a try when I get the chance.

 

Even though dragon fights irritate me, the Dragon Combat Overhaul mod is insanely fun. It makes dragon fights 1000% more difficult and intense, and killing a dragon makes you feel like a champion. Definitely worth a download if the game gets too easy.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I will be sure to download it once I either go to my local library or my grandparents house. My internet is way too darn slow for big downloads. Once there I will also be able to finish my download of Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut. Started it on Superbowl Sunday and was this close ---- to completing it before my family had to skedaddle back home.

 

Nexus Mods isn't loading for me at the moment, here is the name of the mod I was talking about: Immersive Patrols II Vanilla. Do try it out, it makes the game more fun. I also like the following mods:

-- Perfect Legionnaire

-- Stormcloak shields

-- Bandolier

-- Argonian Merc Armor

--  Bosmer Armor

-- Morrowind Armor - Netch Leather

-- WIC Cloaks

-- Skyforge Sheilds

-- Skyforge Weapons

-- Complete Skyforge

 

And you need to get the Toa mod. It is beyond awesome. I just wish that there was more done, like having masks, weapons and armor from the Toa Metru, Inika and Mahri. It only covers the Toa Mata.

[Nescent]

It would seem that ESO's subscription has been dropped a day early. I'll be playing as soon as the US server comes back online, if the sub fee has indeed been dropped.

 

Username is Jeordeon if you want to add me, although I'll probably be playing solo for a while.

 

Edit: Server appears to be back online, but I am still downloading the patch. 

 

Edit 2: Okay yeah ESO is b2p now and I'm a happy camper 

Edited March 16, 2015 by Nescent

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

b2p? What is that?

 

And I don't have enough room on my laptop to get ESO. Once I do, however, I'll be sure to come here.

[Nescent]

Buy-to-play. You still have to purchase the game to play it, however there is no longer a month-to-month subscription.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

Oh okay. Yeah I'm fine with that. I am glad there is no monthly subscription, that's what always prevented me from continuing Star Wars Galaxies (I have fond memories from that one free month   ).